Bourbon County Prop Day 2018

What was 14, coconut?

 

Cinna-bomb

 

My wife pulled a 14 and was walking out and he asked her to "flip" it. I told him if he could do a flip he could have hit. He didn't understand that I meant a physical flip. He was so, so sad when he finally realized. Man, I really wanted to see him attempt a flip.

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1146/145155/

2014 variant - Made in Rye barrels with Cassia Bark, Cocoa Nibs, Panela and Coconut Water

Never had it, so no idea what it tastes like. Out of all that it was the cassia bark that stood out, huh?

 

2014 is pretty controversial, imo. Fresh my bottles were pretty coconut forward, but there are people here who would tell you that was never the case. And when the coconut fell off, some of the bottles did taste like a cinnamon bomb.

 

Cassia/cinnamon stouts are one of the toughest to execute well, in my book. The 2014 Prop mystery pour didn't show coconut to me and the cassia was very well done. There was enough to "show" but not overpowering, where I think many cinna-stouts ultimately end up failing.

Reserve was the most disappointing pour of the day - I had very high hopes. Midnight Orange was the least Bourbon County pour of the day - it was straight orange candy. If I had it blind I would have NEVER known it was from the BC lineup.

 

So how was the free book Grit & Grain they were giving out? Anything interesting in it or just marketing fluff?

 

Not sure that was ever there but the 14 Prop was poured again toward the end between 4 and 5pm. Coconut and sugar was prominent.

 

14 was always advertised to me as a sort of "mexican hot cocoa" thing. I recall getting that fresh. Prop 13 was the coconut bomb.

@Jplachy loves it

 

It talks about the history of BCBS and variants so it is a nice historical piece even if a heavy amount of GI bias is present. Probably better for newbies who haven't been through the years of variants, bottle change and other histories.

 

Reserve is the only beer this year worthy of the BCBS name. GI should start a new line called Goose Pastry Brand Stout and put all this years stuff in that line.

 

See, me and my wife found fresh '14 to be more coconut-forward than '13 (I dunno if it was the coconut water vs. the toasted coconut in '13...I was surprised either way). My issue with '14 is that especially in the last year or two, it's hard to know what you're gonna get.

On the other hand, the last bottle of '13 I had was almost entirely devoid of the creamy coconut vibe I got originally, so I guess '14 is a safer cellaring bet nowadays.

 

I liked all of them, some more than others. Here are my rankings:
1. Vanilla - I see some people calling it "not a vanilla bomb," and if this isn't a vanilla bomb, I don't know what is. Tasted almost like straight up vanilla extract. Really good though.
2. Prop - chocolate! Really good.
3. Coffee Barleywine - really liked this, by far the smoothest of them all. Good coffee flavor.
4. Reserve - best barrel flavor by far.
5. Midnight Orange - I expected to hate this, but I really liked it. The orange was a bitter orange peel flavor and not a sweet orange flavor, which is what I liked about it. Nice flavor combo. Sweet orange would have been terrible.
6. Bramble - agree with others that it was thin for a BCBS and very juice-heavy. Vlad Raspberry and Lookin Good were better, but this is a pretty good BA berry stout.
7. Regular - I feel like I liked last year's better.
8. Wheatwine - unique flavor, kind of sweet and a little peppery. I'll buy a couple of bottles just for the uniqueness of it, but I didn't love it.

 

bramble was very berry, more berry forward then Northwoods, but definitely in the final 4 for me.

1. Prop, Fudge forward, loved it
2. Vanilla , lots of it too
3. Midnight Orange (1980s chocolate/orange candy from variety box) fantastic
4. Bramble Rye (very berry)
5. 2018 BCS Regular(smooth)
6. Reserve (Elijah Craig) boozy , not blown away
7. Wheatwine , more like a barrel aged ale,,,,,(rough on pallet)
8. Coffee Barleywine , tough to drink, like a pot of 2 day old coffe.

My rankings from prop day

 

So guys, given that I'll probably miss any Black Friday proceedings again this year, how salty should I be about missing out on Vanilla? Better than Rye? Worse? Better/worse/the same as OG Vanilla?

 

I've never had the OG Vanilla but this vanilla was very balanced and very good. Not overly sweet. I am glad I have a bottle of it.

 

They should have made Midnight Orange just orange and no chocolate. Then you could have blended it with Prop 2018 for chocolate-orange bcbs or with vanilla for dreamsicle bcbs.

 

great to do at a fest - but hard to do with bottle.

Mixing Midnight Orange, and Prop 18 worked VERY well

 

Hmm, "balanced" and "not overly sweet" are typically the opposite of what I want my stouts to be.

I'll try to catch it somewhere, though.

 

I like pastry stouts...but the extreme sweetness of Bramble, Midnight & Prop were off-putting for me.

Vanilla, of all things, was actually balanced & quite tasty. And agreed that Reserve was a treat.